City of Tumwater names a new neighborhood park, with another planned down the road
Tumwater is ramping up its outdoor recreation offerings with two new neighborhood parks, one that just got a name and the other still in the design phase.
The first park, located in the Preserve development on 91st Avenue Southeast off Old Highway 99, is near completion and just needs a name. The Tumwater Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed submissions from the public and chose Kindred Park, which alludes to both the tight-knit community around the park and the city’s history.
According to the name submission, Kindred was the maiden name of Elizabeth Simmons, among the first white people to settle in the region.
There were several recommendations made to name the park after council member Charlie Schneider, since he lives in the neighborhood and advocated for the creation of the park. But committee chair Erin Carrier said the city does not typically name things after living people.
The Tumwater City Council has the final say on the name, and once it’s been made official, there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the park.
Trails End
The second park is where the Trails End Arena was located, at Trails End Road and 79th Avenue Southeast. The city purchased the historic property in 2014 for $800,000 and had plans to locate a new Operations & Maintenance Facility and neighborhood park on the 22-acre parcel by 2020, but the project was delayed by the pandemic. Now, the architect the city hired has some design and amenity options to review.
Architect Robert Droll has been working with the City of Tumwater for more than 30 years on parks projects, including Pioneer Park, Deschutes Valley Trail, Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls, and more.
Droll said neighborhood parks are the building blocks of a city’s parks system. He said the Trails End property is a bit larger than other neighborhood parks the city has, and it has the best soil in the county. He said the only challenge with the site are some blackberry bushes and other invasive plants.
He presented the parks commission with three concepts of what the park could look like. Once feedback has been collected and analyzed, the commission will meet April 19 to make some choices.
The idea is to locate the Operations & Maintenance facility across the street to the east of Trails End Road, and all three concepts have a parking lot for the facility in the southwest corner of the park, with room for expansion.
The commission wants the park to be heavily themed to go along with the history of the property, either Western themed to pay homage to the former horse facility, or about the George and Isabella Bush homestead.
All three concepts include an overlook where the public can view the glacial kettle that forms much of the northern portion of the property. The heavily-wooded area slopes down into a bowl and has many invasive species in it, Droll said. The idea is to keep people out of that area, at least for now.
The rest of the property is gravelly with some paved sections, and there’s a barn that needs to be demolished. There’s also a large Garry Oak in the middle of the park that will stay put and might become a gathering space with benches and other amenities. All concepts also include walking trails, native plantings, garden spaces, water features, playgrounds and more.
The first concept includes large open lawn areas surrounded by trails and a couple bio-retention ponds. The second puts in some mounds where people can hang out on the edges of the open fields, as well as basketball and pickleball courts. The third has more spread out fields, smaller courts, a picnic shelter and a pump track for bike riders.
The committee was split on the options.
Carrier said she likes the trail concepts in the first one and the basketball and pickleball court ideas in the second.
Droll said he is leaning toward the third option that has the pump track front and center, because that could be a major regional attraction.
Parks and Facilities manager Stan Osborn said no decisions have been made yet, and there will be at least two community engagement opportunities before the April 19 meeting.
This story was originally published April 3, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
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